The Dutch and Flemish masters immortalized fruit, as well as flowers, in their prettiest still lifes. But it was the French, during the 17th and 18th centuries, who refined fruit centerpieces into soaring pyramids of glistening cherries and grapes; elaborate epergnes whose branches were filled with strawberries, figs and miniature apples; or a single golden pineapple served up on a pedestal.

The best fruits for creating table decorations have sturdy skins and can thrive without being refrigerated. Apples, oranges and lemons, for example, may last several weeks; grapes stay pretty for four or five days.

Combining fruit is as rich an art as arranging flowers - and just as rewarding, if you learn to appreciate fruit for its color, shape, texture and size, as you do your favorite blooms. Be simple or be grand.

A single pear crowning a slender candlestick can be as eloquent as a lily in a bud vase. Or a tower of plums, pears and grapes can have the intricacy of a lavish bouquet.

You can make delectable arrangements with surprising ease. Construct a tall cone of fruit simply by piercing each piece of fruit with a toothpick, then piling the fruit in circles on a Styrofoam form. Create sparkling table ornaments with a coat of spray-on adhesive and a frosting of granulated sugar. A single piece of fruit can shine, dressed with a ribbon, at each place setting.

For still richer arrangements, combine fruit with greenery. Sprigs of princess pine or boxwood can enliven a fruit pyramid. Red fruit will look even more vivid against bluish evergreens, such as eucalyptus or white pine.

Wired to a wreath or garland, apples and plums will resemble luscious Christmas-tree balls. And don't forget artificial fruit: A swag garnished with polystyrene fruit is both lightweight and long-lasting.

Fruit is so vibrant it can provide a color theme for your table or the decoration of an entire dining room. Fruit also can spin a mood. A spiky pineapple and the bright, sunny hues of oranges, lemons and limes may call to mind the tropics.

But what fruit does best is help you welcome the holidays, and your guests, with one of nature's sweetest, most prized gifts.

Here are some ideas to try:

SUGARED LEMONS

A light coating of sugar turns lemons into sparkling decorations. Although they're not edible, sugared lemons are long-lasting and especially easy to make.

Insert a skewer into one end of a lemon. Working over craft paper, hold lemon by skewer and coat with Spray-Mount. Sprinkle granulated sugar over the lemon with a spoon, holding the fruit over a bowl to catch granules that do not adhere. Set the sugared lemon on a clean piece of craft paper to dry.

SHEER FRUIT POUCHES

Gold-mesh bags filled with pears and lady apples or other fruit can be grouped on a side board or as a centerpiece, or used singly to mark each guest's place at the table. At the end of the evening, your guests can take them home.

To make a pouch: Cut one piece each of gold tulle and gold-metallic organza 4 inches wide and 8 inches long; pin together.

With scissors, round the two corners of one of the 4-inch sides. Machine-stitch around the U, leaving the top open.

Turn the bag right side out, fill with fruit and tie with ribbon, adding a sprig of grapes or an artificial ivy leaf and vine if you wish. You also may want to trim the tops of the bags.

The same technique can be used for larger pyramids made of different fruits, or combinations of fruits.

Cut off the point of the cone so the top is flat. Poke toothpicks into the bottoms of the apples; insert them on the cone in rings, starting with the largest apples at the base. Finish the top with one apple. Fill in spaces by tucking the short sprigs of boxwood between the apples.

Set the pyramid atop your desired container, adding more boxwood sprigs beneath the bottom row of apples, if you wish.

DECORATING WITH REDS

Ripe red fruit can transform an otherwise quiet dining room for the holidays. Here are several simple, inexpensive ways to incorporate a variety of fruits into your table setting.

As a centerpiece, fill a silver or crystal footed bowl with pears, apples, pomegranates, crab apples, and litchi nuts in countless shades of crimson.

Tie individual red apples with sheer silver ribbon and place one at each place setting. The shiny red apples make tasty gifts for dinner guests, who can eat them with dessert or save them for a healthy midnight snack.

Surround pillar candles, on heatproof plates or in wide glass cylinders, with plump cranberries (the berries should reach no higher than a quarter of the way up the sides of the candles).

On a surface like a mantel or sideboard, perch red pears on one pair of candlesticks, and make tiny wreaths of viburnum berries to encircle another pair.

Line the mantel or sideboard with cuttings of greenery to provide contrast in texture and color, and nestle a few more pieces of red fruit among the cuttings.